AD Family looking to purchasing family land

[Stephanie Spiker]

*My husband and I are fairly new to real estate investing and are both Active Duty stationed in D.C.*

Background: We want to purchase my husband's grandparents' house in MO that sits on family land. The house itself is in rough shape and needs demo'd, but sits on 6 acres. These 6 acres are a portion of 35+ acres we'd eventually like to purchase as well. Currently my husband's parents own the property but need to sell due to declining health. The house was originally a mobile home that has been added onto and now 'looks' like a normal house. They have a realtor that is currently telling them they can sell for $280K, but no one else that has seen the property thinks it could sell for this much given the condition of the house.

My husband and I have about 10 years before we'll be able to move home. While not ideal to purchase land now, we do not want our family's land to pass outside the family. We do plan to live on this property after we get out of the military. To make sure the land/property generates some kind of income until then, we've tossed around land leasing for cattle or a glamping site.

Advice needed:

1. From a mortgage perspective, what kind of loan should we be looking at? We've only used VA loans for our current 2 homes. We don't want to rip off my husband's parents.

2. Would tearing the house down first, then purchasing just the land be wiser?

3. Is there anything else we should consider using the land for instead?

If there's any resources or other miscellaneous considerations you may have to share, we'd greatly appreciate the advice!